Shot in class: Gaza's children return to school under Israeli fire

Shot in class: Gaza's children return to school under Israeli fire

Submitted by Maha Hussaini on Wed, 11/04/2026 - 15:19 In Gaza’s first formal school year since the genocide, Israeli forces intensify shootings targeting teachers and pupils, alongside air strikes on universities Palestinian children walk to school past the rubble of destroyed buildings as the academic year begins in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 19 September 2026 (Bashar Taleb/AFP) Off

Palestinian teacher Sahar Abushbeika was explaining a science lesson to her third-grade pupils when an Israeli bullet struck her lower back, leaving her bleeding in front of her students.

Within seconds, she collapsed as the children gathered around her, screaming for help.

Abushbeika, who teaches at Dawn of Hope, a makeshift tent school in eastern Khan Younis, southern Gaza, says she was shot by Israeli forces on 30 September.

“It was a normal day. Nothing unusual was happening near the school. I arrived in the morning as usual and began explaining the lesson when I suddenly heard what sounded like a drone, followed by a small explosion,” Abushbeika told Middle East Eye.

“I felt something hit my lower back and realised it was a bullet. The pupils panicked, and I tried to calm them down, but they saw the blood, and I fell to the ground. All I remember is the screams of my students before I found myself in hospital.”

After nearly three years of Israeli attacks that have devastated Gaza’s education system and destroyed or damaged more than 97 percent of schools across the Strip, the Ministry of Education, Unrwa and several independent initiatives have established makeshift tent schools to educate hundreds of thousands of school-age children.

But with classrooms and teachers in short supply, schools have introduced rotating shifts. Many pupils receive only about three hours of lessons a day, three days a week.

'The bullet came close to his heart'

- Muna Abusneimah, Palestinian mother 

Determined to support Gaza’s battered education system and help children make up for years of lost schooling, Abushbeika volunteered to teach at a school near the tent where she now lives, having been displaced from her home in Khan Younis.

“There are no tables or chairs in the school. Pupils sit on the ground, and I stand to explain the lessons. The bullet penetrated the tent and hit me directly,” she said.

Although she was hospitalised, doctors could not remove the bullet because it was lodged in a highly sensitive area of her back. She now has to live with it, unable to walk or even sit properly.

The mother of five says doctors could not prioritise her for medical evacuation, with thousands of patients deemed more urgent already waiting on lengthy evacuation lists.

‘He was in class’

About three weeks later, another pupil was struck by Israeli fire in eastern Khan Younis.

Nine-year-old Amir Abusneimah was sitting with his classmates in a school run by the US-registered charity, the Gaza Children Village, when a bullet pierced the tent classroom, struck the blackboard and ricocheted into his shoulder.

“He was in class when the bullet came from above, passed close to the teacher’s head, hit the board and then ricocheted into his left shoulder. That reduced the severity of his injury,” his mother, Muna Abusneimah, told MEE from her tent in Khan Younis.

Gaza students return to makeshift schools after three years of genocide  Read More »

“The bullet came close to his heart. The school called me and said Amir had been wounded in his arm. I ran there and found that they had given him first aid. When he saw me, he tried to reassure me, saying: ‘Don’t worry, Mum, I’m fine. God was kind to me.’” 

Abusneimah said her son was wounded despite sand barriers built around the school tents to protect pupils and staff from Israeli bullets and gunfire, which have become frequent in the displacement camp. The school lies about two to three kilometres from Israel’s so-called Yellow Line.

Just days after he was wounded, MEE was told that an Israeli bullet pierced the school administration room and struck a cupboard while the headteacher was inside.

At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, doctors determined that Amir needed urgent surgery after discovering that one of his arteries had been severed.

“The surgery lasted about four hours. His condition is now stable, but he still needs physiotherapy,” his mother said.

“He has now stopped going to school because of his injury, but will return when he has recovered.”

Abusneimah, who is raising her five children alone while separated from her husband, says she remains anxious whenever they leave for school.

Attacks on school 

This school year, education began returning across Gaza to something approaching normal for the first time since the genocide began in October 2023. 

But in less than two months since classes resumed, several Israeli attacks on schools and universities have disrupted learning again. 

Gaza: Indiscriminate Israeli gunfire kills and terrorises displaced families Read More »

In the latest attack, an Israeli air strike hit the entrance to the University College of Applied Sciences in Mawasi Khan Younis on Tuesday, killing three Palestinians and wounding 11 others, including students.

On the same day, student Rimas Ismail al-Madhoun, 16, was killed in an Israeli air strike shortly after she returned from school in the middle of Gaza City. 

On 25 October, two air strikes hit the courtyard of the Islamic University in Gaza City, killing three security guards and wounding several others, including students.

“There is constant gunfire, and people are frequently injured in our displacement camp. I can be sitting in my tent and still feel unsafe,” Abusneimah said.

“I’m always worried when Amir and my other children go to school.”

In October alone, at least 14 school students aged six to 16 were killed in Israeli attacks. Four teachers and three university employees were also killed during the month.

Since 7 October 2023, at least 19,200 school students and 1,386 university students have been killed, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education. 

A further 28,590 school students and 3,100 university students have been wounded.

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